Software Engineer - Scottish Government - HEO

Location

Galashiels, Scotland, TD1 3TE

About the job

Job summary

Can your software development skills make a difference to the lives of public sector workers?

The Scottish Public Pension Agency (SPPA) is an Agency of the Scottish Government. Our principal role is to administer the pensions for employees in the National Health Service, Teachers,’ Police and Fire-fighters’ pension schemes in Scotland. The Agency administers these public service pension schemes on behalf of Scottish Ministers with an annual pension spend to over 200,000 pensioners of more than £2.5 billion.

As a Software Engineer at SPPA, you’ll maintain and enhance the agency's Python-based Standalone Pension Calculator which is central to the McCloud Remedy Programme, helping ensure fair pension choices for public sector workers - while building secure, scalable solutions using modern technologies in a collaborative, user-focused environment. This role will form part of the SPPA Development Team, a sub-team of SPPA Information Technology.

Job description

Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and maintain Python-based software solutions - including the standalone pension calculator- using modern frameworks and tools.
• Design secure, scalable systems and components following established architectural patterns and development standards.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure solutions meet user needs and strategic goals.
• Contribute to cloud-based deployments and support ongoing maintenance and fault resolution.
• Participate in code reviews, prototyping, and knowledge sharing to uphold quality and support team development.
• Translate user stories and specifications into detailed technical designs and implementations.
• Embed security controls and ensure compliance with information security standards throughout the development lifecycle.
• Continuously improve development processes by identifying deficiencies and supporting optimisation initiatives.

Person specification

Success Profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.

Experience

1. Lead Criteria: Experience writing programs and scripts using Python, object-oriented programming (OOP), Python back-end framework such as Flask, SQL, JavaScript (Next.js) for frontend, and version control tools like Git allows you to use agreed specifications to independently design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using the right standards and tools.
2. Experience developing and deploying cloud-based services, particularly those built with modern frameworks and databases, using containerisation tools such as Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud infrastructure (Azure, including App Services and Virtual Machines, help identify and fix faults following agreed procedures and carry out agreed maintenance tasks).
3. Experience of the technologies and patterns used by established architectural patterns and engineering practices, such as SOLID principles, modular design, secure data structures, and cloud-native patterns like microservices and event-driven architectures enables you to produce detailed designs of components and data structures using well understood technology, appropriate patterns, and security controls embedded.
4. Experience participating in team development processes to identify process deficiencies and support specific activities to improve them.

Experience is assessed at sift, along with a more in-depth assessment at interview. 

Technical / Professional Skills

This role is aligned to the DDaT job role of Developer within the Software Development job family.

You can find out more about the skills required, here.

These skills are assessed by technical assessment. Full details of the assessment and skills being assessed will be shared in advance with all candidates invited to this stage. 

Behaviours:

• Communicating & Influencing - Level 4
• Delivering at Pace - Level 4

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here.

Behaviours are assessed at interview. Full details will be shared in advance with all candidates invited to this stage.